This sounds like something the Mythbusters would cook up.

University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient photovoltaic solar cells and LED lights, biological sensors and systems to convert waste heat to electricity.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-05-microwave-oven-cooks-solar-cell.html#jCp